At 42km mark I finally passed the "Kiltman" who I was 4 seconds behind last year.

I finished the 2nd marathon in my running career!I finished in 3:35:07 and came in 60th out of 245 runners.The best part was waves and music and Stan and Jen breaking course records.

My high school teacher Peter Meggs completes the first half marathon in 2:15.Jamie and Rebecca qualified to Boston for the first time.Robbie Burt qualified for Boston in blind/visually impaired division.Stan set the course record of 2:32:59 and Jen of 2:53:22.

Runners go past the lighthouse at the entrance to Covehead Harbour Sunday during the 2009 BMO Nesbitt Burns P.E.I. Marathon. The marathon, which is 42.195 kilometers long, began in Brackley, wound its way along the north shore to Bedford, along the Confederation Trail to the Brackley Point Road, to the Sherwood Road and then south on the Lower Malpeque Road and straight down University Avenue to the Cenotaph and the finish line.

It was won this year by Stanley Chaisson in a blistering time 2:32.58. (Guardian photo by Brian McInnis)

Record-breaking runsStanley Chaisson, Jen Nicholson steal the show at the 2009 P.E.I. Marathon

CHARLES REIDThe Guardian

Stanley Chaisson of Stratford plows through the tape at the finish line of the 2009 BMO Nesbitt Burns P.E.I. Marathon in a time of 2:32:58. He obliterated the previous record of 2:39:17, set by David MacLellan of Nova Scotia in 2004.(Guardian photo by Brian McInnis)

It was a P.E.I. record-breaking double-dip as Island runners won the male and female events at the 2009 BMO Nesbitt Burns P.E.I. Marathon on Sunday.Bear River native Stanley Chaisson finished in 2:32:58 for the men’s title, beating the 2004 course record of 2:39:12 by over six minutes.Then, Cornwall’s Jen Nicholson crossed the Charlottetown finish line in 2:53:22 — a personal best and crushing her winning mark last year (2:56:33).Chaisson is a two-time half-marathon winner and finished second (2:44:11) at last year’s full marathon.“Pretty excited. I expected to do well,” said Chaisson after the race, “but I was surprised.”Steven Baglole of Charlottetown came in second in 2:44:59 while Halifax, N.S., resident Brian Zurek wasn’t far behind, ending up third in 2:45:45.The 27-year-old Chaisson, who lives in Stratford, is an education student at UPEI.He said good weather and a bit of mental juggling propped him up along the route from Brackley Beach to downtown Charlottetown.“I didn’t even think of (winning). In a marathon it’s so easy to slip up. At 35 kilometres last year I struggled. (This year) I kept pounding until I got there,” he said. “The first 12 kilometres or so was a headwind, but as we looped at 15 kilometres in the trail it was perfect. You couldn’t ask for better conditions.”In the men’s half-marathon, Ian Holdway of Beechville, N.S. (1:18:25), Warren Altman of Oromocto, N.B., (1:21:19) and Robert Carreau of Truro, N.S., (1:22:01) finished first, second and third, respectively.The top Islander was Charlottetown’s Mark McCosham (1:24:55).For Nicholson, a second-place women’s finisher in 2007 (3:13:19), defending her title was a must.That made Sunday’s win sweeter, she said.“I’m thrilled. It was definitely the hardest,” said Nicholson, 40, met at the finish by husband Brent and children Don, 10, Matt, seven, and Lily, three, “because I pushed it. The ultimate goal (was a personal best).”She, too, had support. And not just from stable weather.Her brother, James Dill from Brantford, Ont., ran in the half-marathon and egged on Nicholson in her final few kilometres.“(Those) were the hardest. I needed him,” she said. Dill placed sixth in 1:25:32.Lavinia Carreau of Truro, N.S, finished second (3:21:22) among the females to Nicholson, who placed seventh overall. Third place went to Julia Thomas of Cheticamp, N.S., in 3:29:04.The Island marathon is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon next April. Chaisson and Nicholson led a group of 23 Islanders to qualify.In the women’s half-marathon, Kristy Newson of Stratford finished in 1:29:38, followed by Adriana Veer of Marshfield in 1:31:00 and Mallory Troup of Halifax, N.S., in 1:31:57.So next comes the fun part: celebrating the victory.Nicholson had a room booked Sunday in a local pub with family and friends in mind — a party is always good motivation, she said.“I kept thinking of that.”And Chaisson said he will begin with the basics.“Probably start with a hot bath and maybe a cold beer afterwards,” he said.(creid@theguardian.pe.ca)

Off and runningIn less than a decade,Robert Britain from Minnesota has been a participant in roughly 600 races

JIM DAYThe Guardian

Robert Britain waited for many years — and a lot of pounds — to accumulate before he decided to run.The Minnesota man, who stands at six feet and three inches tall, was 40 years old when he hit the scales at about 230 pounds.“People started telling me I was getting fat so I started running just to lose weight,’’ he said.“I never had planned on doing any racing.’’When allergy shots for severe asthma gave him a greater spring in his step, a friend convinced him to run a 10-kilometre race. He did and he has never looked back.“About three months later, I did my first marathon (in October, 2001 in Chicago) and got hooked on it and have been doing them ever since,’’ he said.In less than a decade, Britain, 51, has beaten quite a path in countless pairs of running shoes.He has tallied some 600 races of different distances since 2001. Of those, 125 have been marathons, his latest coming Sunday in Prince Edward Island.That run, clocked at three hours and 42 minutes, marks his completion of running a marathon in every province and territory in Canada. He also ran marathons — all in under four hours — in each of the 50 American states and is halfway through his second run through the U.S.He does the bulk of his marathons in the spring and fall, tallying them up in breathtaking fashion.His run Sunday in P.E.I. was his fifth marathon in the past five weeks and 20th in total so far this year, just shy of his personal high of 24 in 2006.“I’m not a good person to exercise just for the sake of exercising,’’ he says of what appears to be a man on a marathon mission.“I like to always have a goal in front of me.’’One outstanding goal is to run a marathon in all seven continents, like his friend Ginny Turner of Oregon — the remarkable marathon grandmother introduced to The Guardian readers earlier this month.Britain, who does a lot of travelling in his job as an interim hospital administrator, likes to cash in his hefty frequent flier points for trips to marathon destinations.Not surprisingly, the man who started running (and never stopped) once people first commented on his girth, enjoys feeling fit.“It has helped my health quite a bit,’’ he said.“My breathing has improved since I’ve been running.’’

New Brunswick couple spent the past 16 weeks training togetherto run the half marathon on P.E.I.

JIM DAYThe Guardian

Andria Richard had some catching up to do after meeting runner Edgar Allain.Richard was a walker while Allain had seven half-marathons and two full-marathons under his belt by the time the couple started living together in Bouctouche, N.B.Richard decided to try to sneak up on her faster-paced partner.“In secret I started just to run a little bit — just running two minutes, walking one and all that and then I told him one day ‘you know, I ran five minutes.’’’Rather than laugh at the modest achievement, Allain threw his full support behind Richard’s effort to quicken her step.Last year, the pair ran a 10-kilometre race together.For the past 16 weeks, the couple trained side by side to tackle the Island’s half marathon Sunday.Richard, 43, says Allain, 48, once again proved to be a good motivator.“Always very encouraging,’’ she said.“Sometimes I didn’t feel like it or sometimes it’s the other one that doesn’t feel like it, so wemotivate each other,’’ she added.Richard says running together is good for a relationship. The couple put in many hours pounding the pavement in each other’s company, chatting with one another while urging each other on. Sundays were always designated for the longest run of the week.“It’s like an adventure for the couple,’’ said Richard.“It’s really great when you can share something like that.’’Richard was sidelined for a few weeks by shin splints but worked hard in the final couple weeks leading up to the race.She and Allain started the half marathon Sunday slowly and worked up to a race pace. Smaller steps were taken up the hills.And all the while, says Allain, the pair made an effort to enjoy the view.“Just saying this is another long run and let’s just go out and enjoy it,’’ he said.Richard felt fatigued at the halfway point but her motivator was there to push her along, telling her to focus on the moment.The couple crossed the finish line together and hugged as they both were wrapped in warming tin foil.Richard believes she would have finished the race even if she had tackled it by herself, but her time would likely have been slower.“I find running together, you run faster because you keep up,’’ she said.“If you are alone, you are going to discourage yourself more, I think — for me, anyways.’’She says she will stick to the half marathon again next year, but who knows just how far her partner can push her.